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Ukrainian Forces Battle Russia-Backed Separatists; Russia And Belarus Staging Joint Military Drills; Figure Skating Medal Ceremony Delayed After Positive Drug Test; Parts Of Europe Scaling Back COVID- 19 Restrictions; Protesters Want All COVID Mandates Lifted. Aired 12- 1a ET

Aired February 10, 2022 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:47]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, Russia and Belarus prepare to show off their military muscle with joint drills set to begin near Ukraine's border.

Learning to live with COVID. More countries ease restrictions even as cases in many places remain high.

And an Olympics medal presentation is on hold after a member of the gold medal figure skating team fails a drug test.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: Russia and Belarus are beginning 10 days of joint military drills near Ukraine's Northern border, finally putting into practice weeks of planning. Russia's top general is in Belarus for the exercises. The Kremlin admits the drills are scaled up this year but blames unprecedented threats from NATO. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister says the West has ramped up pressure on Moscow by sending military aid to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, a U.S. official says Russia added about 2,000 combat troops to border areas near Ukraine in the last 24 hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: As we look at the preparation for these military exercises, again, we see this as certainly more of an escalatory and not a de-escalatory action as it relates to those troops and the military exercises. This is happening at the border of -- at the border as well.

So, that is certainly concerning to us. But I wouldn't make a prediction of what it means in terms of an invasion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: -- are leading the latest diplomatic efforts to ease tensions. U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will meet with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to visit NATO Secretary General and then the Polish president and prime minister.

Ukrainian forces in the Eastern part of the country are preparing for a possible Russian invasion but they're already fighting a war with Russia-backed separatists that's claimed thousands of lives of the past eight years.

CNN's Alex Marquardt visited the frontlines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Flying low over the Ukrainian countryside, this Soviet era military plane heads toward the border with Russia.

We traveled here with senior Ukrainian officials and military leaders to get a sense of the mood and preparations where Russian troops are the closest, near Ukraine's Eastern Donbas region.

This is Avdiivka, where many of these Ukrainian troops who are mostly young men have been fighting Russian-back forces on this cold and desolate front.

They're eager to show us how they've been living and fighting here in a conflict involving Russia that has been largely forgotten, but which has taken over 14,000 lives in the past eight years, according to the United Nations.

Ivan has been here the whole time. Like the other soldiers here, he says they're confident they could face a new Russian invasion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, we're ready for some bad situation and basically, we wait here.

MARQUARDT: Do you think that will happen? This bad situation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know because I don't know what's in the head of the guys in that territory.

MARQUARDT: But for you, the war has already started?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course.

MARQUARDT: We're taken to the farthest point forward, where sandbags and tires are piled high. Then, so there was just a burst of what sounded like automatic gunfire. We are just 70 meters we are told from the fighters on the other side of the frontline.

We're rushed away, our escorts keen for us to see what happens, but not too closely. Hearing this gunfire and being so close to this front line, you can't help but think that even if diplomacy succeeds in preventing Russia from invading Ukraine, yet again, this fighting which has been raging since the last time Russia invaded Ukraine will almost certainly continue.

NATO leaders say that ending the fighting already happening here is a critical part of preventing further Russian aggression. With NATO so far refusing to send troops to Ukraine to fight, Ukraine insists it needs more help.

[00:05:00]

OLEKSANDR TKACHENKO, UKRAINIAN MINISTER OF CULTURE AND INFORMATION: But the important issue what they need is additional weapons assistance from the West, from our Western allies. Financial assistance. That's what we need to make sure that we will defend not only peace in this country, but peace in Europe.

MARQUARDT: As of to punctuate their point, more gunfire rings out.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, in Eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling is a CNN Military Analyst and he joins us from Florida. Thanks so much for being here with us.

Let's start with the Russian joint military exercises in Belarus near Ukraine's border. Many fears it could be cover for an invasion. What do you think it signals?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Truthfully, Kim, I think it's an exercise. I think it's continual bluster by Mr. Putin. He wants to move his forces around a little bit. He wants to show that he has capability. We already know that based on the quantity of forces he has there.

But I think right now is truthfully just an exercise. And the Belarusian forces are not that good. Truthfully, from my time in Europe, we evaluated them. They are not a strong force. So, I think it'll be interesting -- an interesting combined exercise between the Russians and the Belarus.

BRUNHUBER: OK, bluster, but how dangerous could that be given Ukraine will also be conducting drills simultaneously? Does this sort of escalate the chance of conflict?

HERTLING: Well, there's there's always a continuous effort by forces in Europe. I know that having been in Ukraine multiple time on various exercises with different both NATO allied and partner forces at their training area in Yavoriv, that this is something that's continuous.

Now, I think, truthfully, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense required these exercises to be undertaken right now to counter the implications of what was gone in -- going on in Belarus.

But this is something that's I think, relatively normal, there is some back and forth between the two sides. There's some movement of forces around and what we have to be concerned about is the capability of Ukraine's military to move in the most decisive directions, depending on if there is any kind of ground force attack by Russia into their country.

BRUNHUBER: So, the chess match continues, in the meantime, recently, just announced here in the U.S. -- the U.S. government's plans to evacuate its citizens should Russia attack the Ukraine, but the caveat here is that they would do so from Poland, not from Ukraine. So, no mass evacuations like we saw in Afghanistan. Explain the thinking there.

HERTLING: Yes, I'm kind of confused by that myself, Kim. I've actually commanded forces that have prepared for noncombatant evacuation operations, what's called a NEO op. And you don't do that from another country, because you're, in fact, protecting American citizens who are looking to go to the embassy in the country that you're doing the NEO in.

So, that embassy is in Kyiv, certainly the forces are in Poland right now that have been designated. And even though John Kirby, the Pentagon Press Secretary said today, that that would be taking place primarily in Poland.

You know, truthfully, I'm going to question that, because as a commander, you don't conduct a NEO from another country and wait for refugees to come to you. You go into that country to get them out.

HERTLING: Another issue that Kirby was on the hot seat for, I guess recently was the the Biden administrations decisions so far not to allow journalists to embed with the U.S. forces deploying to Eastern Europe. I mean, this seems to be a significant break with tradition. Why not allow them?

HERTLING: Yes, you know, I saw him with Wolf Blitzer tonight. And he explained it and truthfully, I've always been a commander in different combat operations. I've always been one that's wanted media with me. That's one of the embed for for transparency.

But truthfully, I can understand why John is making this decision right now. Because we are still in the diplomatic stage of this operation. And if you -- if you truthfully have reporters and asking soldiers, what's your mission here, and they're going to get the hula hula combat approach, when you really want to portray a diplomatic and an informational approach, it could really be counterproductive to what the United States and the NATO forces are doing.

I believe that John would say that when combat starts, you certainly are going to have embedded reporters with the forces, but right now, I think, because it is so tenuous, and because so many things are important in terms of the spoken word. That's why I think they're prohibiting reporters from going in with the combat forces.

[00:10:03]

BRUNHUBER: Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thank you so much. Really appreciate your insights here.

HERTLING: It's a pleasure, Kim. Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: Right now at the Beijing Winter Olympics, all eyes are on men's figure skating. That's where American Nathan Chen is about to perform his free skate after setting a world record with a short program earlier this week.

And it was a huge day for another American athlete snowboarder Chloe Kim successfully defended her gold medal win in the women's halfpipe, an event she dominated four years ago in PyeongChang.

Meanwhile, a potential scandal is playing out on the ice in Beijing. We're learning more about why a medal ceremony for the figure skating team event has been delayed.

CNN's Ivan Watson joins us from Hong Kong. Ivan, what more do we know?

IVAN WATSON, CNN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Kim, I might suggest we're not learning more about why this medal ceremony has been delayed. It was supposed to take place on Tuesday, the Russian figure skating team won on Monday, and it was postponed.

The spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee has now for two straight days had kind of similar responses. We may have an example of that, that we could run right now.

OK, I apologize. We do not have sound of the spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee, basically saying that the medal ceremony has been delayed due to a legal matter and would not -- while being pressed for a second straight day today by journalists at a press conference, he said he simply cannot comment anymore about what this legal matter revolves around.

And when asked whether this might have to do with doping. He said that would be pure speculation. So, in the absence of answers for why the formal ceremony granting the six-person team from the Russian Olympic committee hasn't taken place, we've been filling in the gaps.

Now, several sources have told CNN Sports Analyst Christine Brennan, that one of the athletes has tested positive for a prohibited substance and that athlete is a minor.

Meanwhile, the Russian newspaper RBC sports has been reporting that one of the six skaters on the Russian Olympic Committee tested positive for a substance called trimetazidine, I don't know if I'm pronouncing this correctly, and that was back in December.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on camera where she talked about the breakout star of the Russian Olympic Committee team, the 15-year-old Kamila Valieva saying that she had achieved a miracle. And then, she went on to say that there are forces of evil and good at

play here. And that we have seen forces of evil targeting Russian athletes in the past.

In the past, well, this is really important, Kim, there's a reason why we're not calling it the Russian Olympic team but the Russian Olympic Committee because the Russian team has been banned due to accusations of state sponsored doping in the past. That's why they have to call themselves the ROC in these games and in last summer's Tokyo Olympics.

Long story short, we don't know the answer yet. But it's a very unusual situation where the medals have not been handed out. And we've got a statement now from the spokesperson of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, saying "We don't have all the details. But in situations like this, it's about more than gold. It's about the integrity of fair sport, and accountability". Stay tuned.

BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll be following that story. Ivan Watson in Hong Kong, thank you so much.

Well, COVID fatigue is real and growing but is now the right time to end or even ease restrictions? A growing number of countries say yes.

And we'll hear from protesters in Canada as their movement spreads to cities around the world, stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: The push to scale back coronavirus restrictions is spreading through Europe. Sweden is the latest Scandinavian country to ease up on COVID measures. Swedish bars and restaurants no longer have an 11:00 p.m. curfew or limits on party sizes and proof of vaccination is no longer required for certain public events.

And the British Prime Minister says if all goes well, England could end all remaining COVID measures later this month with a government launching a strategy for living with COVID. Rates across the U.K. have fallen since their peak in early January but still remain relatively high.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Provided the current encouraging trends in the data continue, it is my expectation that we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions, including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive a full month early.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Dr. Eric Topol is a cardiologist and Professor of Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research, and he's with us from San Diego, California.

Thanks so much for being here with us, Doctor.

So, in many countries, cases high, even going up and restrictions coming down. What do you make of this paradox?

DR. ERIC TOPOL, PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR MEDICINE, SCRIPPS RESEARCH: Well, good to be with you, Kim. It's nice to see the cases coming down. We all need to see that. There's a premature move to abandon medication I think. It's great when you have very low cases and very low-test positivity.

But in parts of the world, certainly in the U.S., we're really not there yet, except in very limited places.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, well, it is. Well, you bring up the U.S. I mean, here, we're seeing the same thing play out, even one of the states that's been most aggressive in terms of restrictions, California, where you are, in many cases now starting to lower restrictions as well.

And I asked the CEO of a major hospital network a few days ago about this idea of lowering restrictions. He said it was too soon. So, do you agree?

TOPOL: I agree. It's also a silly metric to say, as the governor did here in California, February 15th. Well, this doesn't work by date. It works by what is the circulating virus level. And that's what should be used as the metric to guide us.

BRUNHUBER: There seems to be as well a lot of hesitancy coming from many hospital officials and workers. I mean, you can quote statistics about cases, even deaths being down in certain places, but the demand on those workers hasn't seemed to have slowed very much and the burnout and the number of sick workers. I mean, it's still huge issues, which many of them makes makes them hesitant I guess about the idea of easing restrictions.

TOPOL: Absolutely. You know, here in the U.S., we have 97,000 plus people with COVID -- for COVID in the hospital, that's still being a major stress on health systems throughout the country.

And I think that's the same case in many other countries, as well. So, that's another reason to just be a little careful, given it an extra couple of weeks so that we get these people out of the hospital, we reduce the strain on our health systems and health care professionals.

BRUNHUBER: I guess that's the same advice that's being echoed at the federal level here in the U.S., we heard the head of the CDC yesterday, say, still too soon to change guidance or loosen restrictions or words, we are not there yet.

[00:20:05]

BRUNHUBER: So, there seems to be a really big disconnect between local officials and the federal government, people seem very eager to move on.

TOPOL: You know, I think we all are, we want to put this in our rearview mirror. But you know, we've gone this long, and we don't want to invite, you know, more spread. And we still have the looming issue of this, a sister of Omicron BA.2, that has certainly made a big move and have spread in countries like Denmark and India and many others. We haven't seen that settle out yet, either.

So, you know, there's good reasons to just sit tight and be patient, and there are some places that are just in terrific shape. I can understand that, but not at a national level.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, and a lot of that also depends on vaccination rates as well.

Now, I mentioned earlier in my intro that the U.K. will be launching strategy for living with COVID. So, I'm curious what changes would be at the top of your list in terms of how we pivot away from from treating COVID as a national health emergency?

TOPOL: Well, you touched on it already, Kim, the vaccination and the booster are essential. With that, the confidence of being able to avoid any serious severe disease is so high. But that's where we have soft spots, certainly in the U.S. and other countries.

In addition to that, you know, the whole idea of when there are symptoms, the idea of getting tested to avoid spread, the notion that Boris Johnson advanced today of not having any isolation with an infection seems to be not backed up by any data or evidence.

So, we still need to be careful even when we're living with COVID. And we're in a state where things are very calm. There's still going to be circulating virus. We don't really want to invite trouble.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. Couldn't agree more. Dr. Eric Topol, really appreciate you being here with us. Thanks so much.

TOPOL: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: The trucker protest against COVID vaccines and restrictions that's clogged the streets of Canada's capital is now spreading the cities around the world. The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement across the U.S. that a possible convoy of truckers could impact the Super Bowl and the State of the Union address.

Protesters camped outside of New Zealand's Parliament, you can see them there. Police arrested more than 50 people.

In France, protesters say they want to go back to normal life and will bring their convoy to Brussels.

And in London, protesters swarmed and shouted at Labor Party Leader Keir Starmer calling him a traitor for backing COVID vaccinations.

Meanwhile, Canadian officials are looking for ways to clear blockades of two border crossings and to end the 13-day occupation of Ottawa.

Donie O'Sullivan spoke to the protesters there. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DYLAN FRIESEN, PROTESTING VACCINE MANDATES IN CANADA: I want all these mandates gone, and I'm not leaving until all the mandates are gone.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is the stuff that you can't do right now as a non-vaccinated person?

SAMUEL GAUTHIER, SUPPORTING TRUCKERS PROTESTING IN CANADA: I live in Quebec, so it's a bit more intense than other places in Canada. But look, I can't go skiing, I can't go to Walmart. I can't go to Canadian Tire. I can't go to Home Depot. I can't go to restaurants. I can't go to bars. I can't go to the gym.

O'SULLIVAN: Truckers here in Canada have brought part of the country's capital to a standstill right outside the national parliament.

FRIESEN: I was hired on at a job not too long ago for a transport company out of Whitby, Ontario. And I was let go due to not willing to get the vaccines for my job.

And I mean, that's not right for companies to be able to decide that and take away our right to earn money and support our livelihood.

O'SULLIVAN: Now, this is all happening despite these protesters representing a small minority of Canadians. More than 80 percent of eligible Canadians are fully vaccinated. And the Canadian Trucking Alliance, the primary advocacy group for Canadian truckers, which has condemned these protests, has said about 85 percent of Canadian truckers who regularly cross the U.S. border are vaccinated.

And for you, why is it important for you to be here today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, because --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fake news. No, don't talk to them because they're fake news.

O'SULLIVAN: But despite the fact that these people may be part of a minority in Canada, they are receiving a lot of support from conservatives and other right-wing figures in the United States.

CHIEF PETER SLOLY, OTTAWA POLICE SERVICE: We are now aware of a significant element from the United States that have been involved in the funding, the organizing, and the demonstrating.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): The Canadian truckers are heroes, they are patriots and they are marching for your freedom and for my freedom.

O'SULLIVAN: This is very much a 21st century protest playing out as much on the internet as it is on the streets. Viral memes and sometimes false and highly offensive historical comparisons that circulate online are being repeated verbatim here, like this.

[00:25:05]

O'SULLIVAN: And because you're not vaccinated, have you -- is there business, is there stuff you can't do in Canada now?

LAURIE BUNCH, SUPPORTING TRUCKERS PROTESTING IN CANADA: Yes, I'm like -- well, basically, if you want to compare Canada to anything, it's like Hitler's Germany and we're like the Jews. One of the goals is to simply -- is to get a group of people you can get -- you're angry with. And this case is the vax unvaccinated.

O'SULLIVAN: There's a lot of people here streaming live online.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just going to follow you guys and make sure you tell the truth.

O'SULLIVAN: Documenting every moment on social media.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You take those cans off of that truck. Is that your property?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is now.

O'SULLIVAN: In an effort to clear the protesters, police have begun confiscating gas canisters, resulting in encounters like this, that clock up thousands of views online.

JIM KERR: My name is Jim Kerr, and I give a shit of opinions. How do you feel?

Hi, my name is Jim Kerr. And I care about human beings, especially once who are trying to keep themselves warm in a truck while fighting for the freedoms of Canadians. How do you feel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The main problem I have is all the censorship that's going on. That's that's the main problem that I have. There is censorship everywhere. Yes, people's accounts get taken down and even Facebook, if you don't say the right thing -- even this convoy, a lot of groups started and people are even live streaming and all of a sudden, I heard yesterday in the restaurant, my feed was cut -- my feed was cut.

O'SULLIVAN: Facebook shut down some groups on its platform supporting the truckers after the online outlet grid news found that they were being administered by a hacked account that had belonged to a woman in Missouri.

So, whoever was really running the groups wanted to hide their identity and GoFundMe shut down a fundraiser for the truckers after police told them the protests had become an occupation.

But organizers here have still been able to raise millions of dollars through an alternative service, a self-described Christian fundraising platform. Organizers say the money will help keep the truckers on the streets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The last time I saw my wife was on January 28. I have not seen her since. I am here of my own volition, 100 percent.

There are some groups with resources trying to help us, sending us money, helping us so we don't go bankrupt.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want those great Canadian truckers to know that we are with them all the way.

O'SULLIVAN: Trump indicating he is supportive of truckers descending on Washington D.C., other American right-wing figures goading their audiences to act.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: The question is how long before protests like this come here?

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Will we need our own trucker rally to end all of this insanity once and for all?

O'SULLIVAN: What is the main goal, the main objective of the truckers here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Freedom.

O'SULLIVAN: Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, Ottawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: India's Prime Minister is looking for a big win as elections kick off in the country's most populous state.

We'll have a live report from Uttar Pradesh just ahead, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: A follow-up now to the report on our four-month investigation into the deadly terror attack at Kabul Inter -- Kabul Airport last August.

[00:30:26]

The Pentagon said the blast was the work of a lone suicide bomber. Thirteen U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghan civilians were killed.

CNN reviewed medical records, analyzed video, photos, and audio from the scene, and spoke to over 70 witnesses, families of the dead, doctors, and survivors, and insist some of the dead and wounded were shot.

The U.S. and British military say warning shots were fired after the blast at a suspicious man to prevent crowd surges, but the shots didn't hit anyone.

Now, CNN hired a forensic blast analyst who examined the scene. His conclusion was the bomb wasn't big enough to kill 180 people. Other experts we spoke to said it could have been that powerful. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby spoke with Wolf Blitzer Wednesday about our report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to be clear: U.S. investigators didn't speak to any Afghans or any of the five Kabul hospitals that CNN spoke to over these past few months. They didn't speak to any of the victims who have medical records of gunshot wounds. So how can you be so sure, John?

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON SPOKESPERSON: They didn't speak. You're right. They didn't. And again, we -- we -- even in the initial treatment of our troops, our own doctors at first diagnosed gunshot wounds. And then after getting in and working - and working on -- on these troops, realized that there were no gunshot wounds to our troops. That they -- the injuries were caused by five-millimeter ball bearings, which leave a wound that very much looks like a bullet wound.

And I -- you know, reading the CNN report, there's no autopsies that -- that were done by those doctors and those hospitals of Afghans, as well.

So again, we respect the reporting of CNN, clearly, but our -- we're going to stand by the investigation, which did not find any conclusive evidence that there was gunfire of any kind by American troops on -- on Afghan citizens.

BLITZER: Do you think --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And we'll continue following developments on this story.

Voting is underway in India's most populous state in an election viewed as a midterm referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rule and a test for his ruling party's popularity.

Polls opened just hours ago in Uttar Pradesh. The northern state has 200 million residents, a larger population than all of Russia.

CNN's Vedika Sud joins us now with the latest.

So the state, essentially, the country's biggest political prize and the ruling party won there pretty heavily in the last few elections. So Vedika, could things change this time around?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kim, I'm standing in front of the public school where voting is underway in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Very quickly, before I get to what you've asked me, elaborating on the size of the state of Uttar Pradesh, if taken as an independent country, Kim, it would be the eighth largest country in the world.

And that's the reason why voting will take place over seven phases over the next month in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Very quickly, the politics of the region obviously impacting what you just asked me, as well. So currently, the state of Uttar Pradesh is governed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, known as the BJP. The incumbent chief minister is Yogi Adityanath, a saffron-robed monk turned politician, known for his divisive politics.

My team and I visited a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) temple town, the holy city central to BJP's inter-politics. We wanted to understand what's more important to the people on the ground. who have been devastated by the brutal second wave of COVID-19. Is it good governance or religion? Here's more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUD (voice-over): A lifeless body is towed to the banks of the River Choti (ph) in Neoriye (ph), a holy city in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

It's one of the 217 bodies social worker Ritesh Mishra says he cremated in four months, during the peak of the second wave of the COVID epidemic in 2021, when the Delta variant swept India. Some unclaimed, others abandoned.

Many families are either too poor to perform the final rights of COVID-19 victims, or just too scared of contracting the virus.

Last year, mass funeral pyres in the state indicated there were more COVID-19 deaths in Uttar Pradesh than numbers released by the state government. I asked him which political party he'll be voting for in the upcoming state election. Mishra (ph) supports the ruling dispensation.

RITESH MISHRA, SOCIAL WORKER (through translator): I'm compelled to vote for the BJP, they're constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya. That was their main agenda.

[00:35:07]

SUD: Uttar Pradesh is currently governed by Yogi Adityanath, a firebrand monk and trusted aide of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. Also, the champion of the BJP's Hindu nationalist agenda.

In 2019, a verdict by India's Supreme Court vindicated Modi, and his buddy stand on a decades-long battle.

A holy site in Ayodhya, considered to be the birthplace of the revered Hindu deity Ram, was handed over to the Hindus. A mosque one stood there, before being demolished by a Hindu mob in the early 1990s.

As millions watched, Modi set the ceremonial cornerstone for a temple in the midst of the pandemic. Right-wing supporters, like seer Pawan Kumar Das Shastri, see this happening elsewhere.

PAWAN KUMAR DAS SHASTRI, SEER (through translator): Our next mission is constructing grand temples for our gods in other holy cities.

SUD: In the state capital Lucknow, an emotional Harshit Shrivastava wipes away his tears. He talks to us about his father, who died of COVID-19 in April last year.

Despite all efforts, Shrivastava failed to find a hospital that would take his father in. The family was staunch supporters of BJP, but not anymore.

HARSHIT SHRIVASTAVA, FATHER DIED OF COVID-19 (through translator): In the name of religion, this government is taking advantage of the poor and uneducated.

SUD: Yogi and his lieutenants have repeatedly rejected allegations of polarizing communities or mishandling the pandemic.

DR. DINESH SHARMA, DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER, UTTAR PRADESH (through translator): BJP's core agenda was, is, and will always be development.

SUD: How do voters here look at the government's performance? Do they value development or the assertion of religious identity? The answer might determine what happens in the 2024 national elections.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SUD: The BJP claims that it's only development that's on their agenda ahead of the state elections, which starts today. Kim, it's pretty clear there are other issues, as well, like law and order, as well as the polarization of communities that is also very crucial in this election.

This is, no doubt, the semifinal to the 2024 national elections. And obviously, this is crucial for any ambitions and aspirations the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, has in two years from now.

Back to you, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll be following that election with interest. Vedika Sud, thank you so much.

As some Indians head to the polls, others have been taking to the streets over the right to wear hijabs. New protests broke out in cities across India Wednesday, as more schools and colleges in the southern state of Karnataka moved to enforce a ban on the head scarves used by many Muslim women.

The state's capital is now banning demonstrations outside its educational institutions for the next two weeks.

Well, this video shows how tense the situation has become. A lone Muslim girl being heckled by angry young men on her way to school.

The state's high court is considering petitions against the ban.

All right. Still to come, even in the 21st Century, warfare is affected by weather. We'll explain why warmer temperatures in the region could impact the potential Russian attack on Ukraine. Details ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40:36] BRUNHUBER: As tensions between Ukraine and Russia continue to deteriorate, weather may become a factor in a potential conflict. CNN's Melissa Bell reports.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Across much of Ukraine, it's been a mild winter. Still, plenty of snow but much of it turning to slush. This year (UNINTELLIGIBLE), less icy than normal for the beginning of February.

According to the latest data, temperatures are running between one and three degrees Celsius higher than the 30-year average. And that just might make a difference to any Russian military offensive.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For him to move in and occupy the whole country, particularly from the north, from Belarus, it's -- he's going to have to wait a little bit until the ground's frozen.

BELL: The view in Washington is that a Russian offensive needs frozen ground, given Ukraine's landscape.

GEN. MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF Prominent terrain includes flat, open plains. And there are abundance of rivers and lakes, and there's a high water table. And when the high water table freezes, it makes it for optimal conditions for cross-country tracks and wheeled vehicle maneuver.

BELL It's not so much that modern tanks get bogged down in wet conditions but the support they need can do.

J.D. WILLIAMS, SENIOR DEFENSE RESEARCHER, RAND CORPORATION: More importantly than the track vehicles themselves, is what they need to sustain themselves, which is fuel and ammunition. Which are very heavy and are generally carried by wheeled vehicles that need good roads.

BELL: Even the Russians admit that, in some areas, wet conditions can be a factor.

VLADIMIR CHIZHOV, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE E.U.: If you studied geography of the area, actually, the southern part of Belarus, close to the Ukrainian border, is a very swampy area, which is hardly fitting for certain active engagement of tanks and other heavy weaponry.

BELL: It's not just the conditions on the ground. It's the skies, as well.

Clear skies are important for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering and for landing assault troops.

WILLIAMS: Cloudy weather, rains, snow and all of that would inhibit the reconnaissance measures that you would use to find the targets. And if you can't find the targets precisely, it would be in effect the fires are going to have are going to be diminished. BELL But in the initial phase of any conflicts, some experts say that

Russia will likely offer weapons that can operate in any weather. Long-range artillery, ballistic missiles. They would seek to take out Ukrainian command and control, not frontline forces.

Satellite imagery indicates that such weapons have been brought forward to positions near the Ukrainian border.

(on camera): The Russian military on the ground and in the air has been significantly upgraded over the course of the last decade. And it trains to operate in all weather conditions.

But even in the 21st Century, weather matters. And the forecast for the rest of February is for milder than normal conditions and plenty of cloud cover.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Kyiv.

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BRUNHUBER: And thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. WORLD SPORT with Don Riddell starts after the break.

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